Pressure reducing valve



March 17, 1953 E, w, WORK 2,631,412

PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE Filed Feb. 12, 1949 FEE-.1.

INVENTOR. ER/cH W. WORK HTT RNEY Patented Mar. 17, 1953 -UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE Erich W. Work, Hartford, Conn., assignor to The Beaton & Cadwell Manufacturing 00., New Britain, onn., a, corporation of Connecticut.

Application February 12, 1949, serial No. am

'1 Claim.

This invention relates to fluid pressure reducingvalves, and more particularly to a valve for automatically regulating a flow of fluid from a high pressure supply line into a low pressure line so as to maintain a constant pressure in the low pressure line. v v

One object of this invention-is to provide a valve of the above nature which will be governed entirely by the fluid pressure existing in the low pressure line; r

Another object is to provide a valve of the above nature which has a bellows for protecting the valve member against any direct influence from the high pressure line.

Another object is to provide a valve of the above nature which avoids the use of mechanical linkages, which has only a few moving parts, and which may be easily taken apart for inspection or repair. 1

A further object is to provide a reducing valve 7 of the above nature, which will be simple in i Referring now to the drawing in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral indicates an open-ended housing having a transverse horizontal partition H which divides the interior of said housing into a high pressure lower chamber I2, and a low pressure upper chamber l3--said chambers being provided re- 'spectively with. a threaded L inlet 14', and a threaded outlet l5. I

A circular opening 16 is formed in the central portion of the transverse partition I I in order to permit fluid communication between the high pressure chamber l2 and the low pressure chamber I3.

The lower side of the partition ll adjacent the opening I6 is smoothly machined so as to provide a flat annular surface H, which is adapted to serve as a seat for a valve disk I8 having a circular upstanding flange l9. The upstanding flange I9 is of a suitable diameter to engage the annular surface I1 outwardly of the 2 opening l6 and is rounded upon the upper portion of its inner surface in order to affordaicl ose control of the fluid when said flange" I9 approaches its closed position against theannular surface l1. w

' The valve disk I8 is provided with an integral stem 2!] having a threaded upper end which extends upwardly'through the opening 16, and is screwed into the lower end of a connecting nemher 2! which is disposed at the lower sideiof a flexiblediaphragm 22. The diaphragm 22 serves as the upper wall of the low pressure chamber [3 and its central portion is tightly clamped. between the connecting member 2l and an upper washer 25 by means of a nut 24 which is engaged upon a reduced upper end 23 of the "con necting member 21'.

The valve disk i8 is urged downwardly into open position by means of a coiled spring 26 which is engaged between the washer 25 and a circular spring base 21.] The spring base 2T is held by an adjusting screw 28 in the upper end of a spring housing 29, whereby the forceefjthe spring 26 may be adjusted in orderto regulate the effect of the fluid pressure in the chamber "l3 upon the flexible diaphragm 22.

The spring housing 29 is secured to the upper threaded end of the housing In by means of a threaded lower end 30, which serves als'oto clamp theperiphery of the diaphragm 22 tightly in position. "f

The valve member I8, is protectedagainst the efiect of high pressure in-the chamber 12, by means of a generallycylindrical flexible bellows 3|, having its respective ,upper. andjlowe'r ends sealed to the periphery of the valvemembe'r.. .l8 andto the upper surface of-a supporting-disk 32 by any suitable means, suchv as solder}; The bellows 3| is so proportioned as to have an effective cross-sectional areav which is equal to'the area within the valve flange 19, sothat variations in pressure in the lower chamber?" h e n e e t mean he o erj-e uwf the valve.

The interior of the bellows 3! is maintained in communication with the atmosphere through an aperture 33 in a downwardly-extending nipple 34 on the supporting disk 32, and an aperture 35 in a hollow plug 36 which serves as a closure for the lower end of the housing I3.

It will be noted that the supporting disk 32 has a diameter which is considerably greater than the diameter of the bellows 3|, so that fluid pressure in the lower chamber l2 will hold said supporting disk firmly seated upon said closure low pressure chamber I3.

diaphragm 22 will respond to rising fluid pressure in the chamber '13 by moving the valve disk I8 upwardly so as to restrict the flow of fluid 3 plug 36, thus preventing any leakage of fluid from the chamber I 2 into the interior of the plug 36 and outwardly through the aperture 35. It will also be noted that the bottom opening of the housing [0, into which the closure plug 36 is threaded, is of ample size to permit the removal of the supporting disk 32 therethrough. Thus, the supporting disk 32, the bellows 3|, and the valve member l8 form a unitwhich'may be easily disconnected and removed from the housing l merely by unscrewing the closure plug 36 and then unscrewing thevalye stem zfl from the clamping member 2| by turning the downwardly-extending nipple 34.

The relief valve may be protected against the wardly of the valve member l8.

- The lower end of the screen 31 is secured to the periphery of the supporting disk 32 by means 7 of solder, so that said screen may be removed from the housing It) along with said disk 32.

Operation In operation, the threaded inlet High pressure fluid may then be admitted to v the lower chamber 12, whereupon said fluid will pass around the valve disk l8 into the upper The spring-pressed through the opening I6, and thus will maintain the desired low pressure in the upper chamber 13 and in the low pressure line attached to the "outlet [5.

If the pressure in the upper chamber I3 should tend to drop, the balancing force of the spring 26 will, of course, result in a corresponding opening movement of the valve disk l8.

Thus, the valve disk l8 will be controlled 'The degree of pressure to be "maintained in the low pressure chamber l3 will be determined by the adjustment of the screw 28, which may be turned so as to vary the degreeof fluid pres- :sure which is necessary to operate the valve disk I8.

' While there has been disclosed in this specifi- M will be attached to a high pressure fluid supply line, ,and the threaded outlet 15 will be attachedto a line which is to be supplied with fluid at a relatively low pressure.

4 cation, one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In Short the inventiQn includes all the modifications andemb odiments coming within the scope of the following claim.

Having thus fully described the invention,

automatically regulating the flow of fluid from ahigh pressure supply line into a low pressure line which will be governed entirely by the fluid in the low pressure line, a housing having high andllow pressure chambers separated by a flat partition having a central opening, a valve disk in said high pressure chamber having an upstanding flange, the inner and 'outer sides of which areperpendicular to said'partition and provided with 'a convex curved upper edge adapted to lie below and adjacent the fiat partition outside of said central opening, said convex edge being downwardly convergent on its inner side for a substantial portion of its length, and having a shorter divergent'section on its outer side and serving to maintain a smooth Inonturbulent flow of fluid from saidhigh pressure chamber to said low'pressure chamber, said high pressure chamber having an open bottom communicating with the outer atmosphere, an apertured plate releasably held seated on said open bottom by the fluid in said high pressure chamber, a flexible bellows connecting saidvalve disk to said plate, a spring-pressedflexible diaphragm in the top ofsaid low'pressure chamberand having its center connected rigidly. by a stem to said valvedisk, whereby a decrease' of the fluid pressure in said low pressure line will cause said valve disk to be moved downwardly away from said partition toautomatically increase the rate of flow of fluid-fromsaid high pressure chamber tosaid'low pressure chamber. ERICK W; WORK.

REFERENCES CITED 6 The following references are of record the file of this patentz UN r-EnsrATEsrAT NI Number Name" Date 374,485 McGann "De0l'6,f 1887 853,503 Eddy :r May M, 1907 1,576,686 Terry V I Mar. 16,1926 1,903,248 Spence Mari-28,: 1933 1,937,565 Grifiiths- L. Dec. 5, 1933 1,950,121 McKee i 'Mar.6," 1934 2,091,051 Mesinger Aug; 24, 1937 2,301,031 Ferguson -Nov'.3; 1942 2,318,721 Siner May 11,1943 2.487.089

Anth es Nov. '8, 1949 

